Omar Abdulkarim has been playing trumpet since the early age of 14 months. Omar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the renowned New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has shared the stage with Roy Hargrove, Redman, Method Man, KRS-ONE and Talib Kweli to mention a few. Omar has also had the pleasure of performing with Nicholas Payton’s Television Studio Orchestra and Valerie Ponomarev’s Big Band. Omar has written and recorded with Lauryn Hill and Jose James. His Influences include: Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, John Coltrane and Lee Morgan. After living in New York for 11years, where he completed the undergraduate program at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Omar has recently moved back to Minnesota where he is currently composing new music for his upcoming album, performing with Source Code and the Minnesota Hard Bop Collective, and more.